Diving was diving, right? Rex was sure his
experience diving on wrecks and reefs would carry him through. After all, it
wasn’t the first time he had ventured inside of something with a roof over his
head.

Rex decided to take a quick look into the
cave system attached to the lake he was diving. It was dark, but he had a small
light with him. He kept it in his BC pocket and had almost forgotten about it
as he geared up. Rex thought the cave system was pretty cool — until he turned
around and couldn’t see the way back out.

THE DIVER

Rex was 47 years old, with an advanced open
water certifcation. He had a couple of specialty ratings, but no training
diving in caverns, caves or overhead environments. He had logged a few hundred
dives over 10 years; most of his experience came from boat dives in Florida and
in the Caribbean.

THE DIVE

Rex met three friends at a nearby open-water
dive site that local instructors used for training. It was a freshwater spring
with a large lake divers could explore. The spring’s owners had installed
platforms that divers used to perform skills, as well as hoops to practice
buoyancy control.

Off to one side of the facility, the
natural spring exited an underwater cave. There was a cavern where divers could
swim around, keeping the lake directly behind them while experiencing the
feeling of the rock face looming large in front of them and over their heads.
Beyond that cavern area, divers with the proper training could enter an
expansive cave system.

Before Rex and his buddies were allowed to
dive in the lake, the site operators briefed the foursome and warned them to
stay away from the cave, telling them that many divers had died by going inside
without the proper preparation, training and equipment. Rex and his friends
signed releases agreeing to take responsibility for their actions, and a
statement acknowledging they had been warned not to go inside the cave system.
They were told they weren’t allowed to take lights along on the dive, a final
measure to keep inexperienced divers from going inside the cave.

THE ACCIDENT

After a couple of circuits around the
open-water portion of the lake, Rex began to grow bored with the dive. There
wasn’t much to see or do, and he wasn’t interested in practicing his buoyancy
control swimming through the hoops or the manufactured swim-throughs. He
started to get curious about the cave system and then remembered he had a small
light in his BC pocket. While his friends were seeing how close they could get
to a foating hoop without touching it, he decided to swim away and explore the
cave. He told himself he would just go inside the opening to see what it was
like. It couldn’t be very different from going into the pilot house of a
shipwreck. He had a roof over his head when he did that too.

Rex ignored the warning sign positioned
just outside the cave. It took some effort to get through the opening — the
water flowing out of the underground spring pushed against him as he crawled
through. Inside, Rex took a moment to let his eyes adjust while he shined the
light around the cave’s first opening. There wasn’t much to see in that first
room, but he knew the cave opened up just a little farther in. He had seen
pictures in the dive shop. Rex finned even farther ahead, looking at the
tunnels that ventured of to either side and shining his small light around to
see what he could see. The water pressure from the spring dropped of significantly
inside the cave, so Rex was able to swim more easily.

After a few more minutes, Rex realized his
buddies were probably wondering where he was. He checked his air supply and
realized it was getting low. He had been in the water about 40 minutes and had
worked hard to get inside the cave. He turned to go out and realized he wasn’t
sure where the opening to the surface was. He had kicked up quite a bit of the
fine silt that covered the bottom of the cave, making the water hazy.

Rex became nervous, but he began swimming
back the way he thought he had come, certain he would see the opening just
around the next bend in the tunnel. He never found it. When Rex’s buddies
realized he was gone, they immediately began looking for Rex around the cave
entrance. The water flowing out of the cave made it difficult for them to do
more than peek their heads inside. They didn’t have lights with them, so they
couldn’t see anything. They noticed quite a bit of silt coming out of the cave
and decided they needed to get help.

They hoped they would find Rex on the
surface, waiting for them. He wasn’t there. Rex’s body was recovered several
days later.

ANALYSIS

There’s a saying that watching your air
pressure go down to zero is no way to spend the rest of your life. Every year,
divers learn this terrible lesson.

Rex made several mistakes, but none more
ill-fated than simply letting his ego and curiosity take the place of good
sense and sound decisions. He disregarded a warning sign that told him divers
had died inside the cave he was about to enter, and he ignored the signs
telling him he was not allowed to take a light into the water.

Diving inside a cave or just about any
overhead environment requires training, practice, experience and specialized
equipment. In a cave-diving course, Rex would have learned not to enter a cave
system with only half a tank of air and other rules regarding breathing-gas
management. He would have practiced laying a line into the cave using a reel so
he could find his way back out. He also would have practiced finning techniques
that would keep him from stirring up the silt on the bottom of the cave. He
also would have learned that he needed to carry a primary light and at least
one backup light, in case one failed. And, of course, he wouldn’t have gone
into the cave in the first place without a buddy.

LESSONS FOR LIFE

1 Don't Go Do not enter a cave or other
overhead environment without specialized training or equipment.

2 Understand Your Limitations Experience in
one environment does not necessarily mean you can dive everywhere. If you’re
diving somewhere new, make a guided dive to learn the local ropes.

3 Follow the Rules Rules such as not
carrying lights into a lake attached to a cave system are there for your
protection.